~Ashton~

I've dislocated my shoulder about a trillion times over the past nineteen years of my life, but I never popped someone else's shoulder back into place.

"Remove your shirt," I calmly tell Ezra.

He nods, slipping his shirt over his head with his good arm. I do notice him grimace once or twice. I place my hand on his dangling arm and steal a glance at Sabina, surprised to find her watching us intently.

Why does she seem fine with seeing the guy she claims isn't her boyfriend shirtless? I've seen girls' reactions before around shirtless guys. They either go wild or turn away uncomfortable, their cheeks bright red. Sabina is just so...

"Get it over with already."

My mind clears, refocusing on a pale Ezra. "Ok, ok, hold on a second." I rummage through the chest at the foot of my bed under his watchful glare, then smile as I hand him the frayed hand towel. "Here bite down on this." He obeys. "Now this might hurt just a bit," I tell him.

Taking a deep breath, I pop that shoulder right into place. Ezra cries out in agony, tears streaming down his face. I try not to sympathize.

"It's done," I say, handing him back his shirt.

He spits out the towel and gives me a brave smile. "Thanks, I owe you one bro."

"I'd rather not have to get a dislocated shoulder for you to owe it to me," I smirk.

He chuckles, "I don't blame you." Then letting out a sigh, "Well thanks again. I really wasn't looking forward to going to the doctor."

"Anytime."

He cracks a smile. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go and find Sabina."

I scan the room and for the first time notice that the princess has fled. "Good luck with that," I say.

"You have to know her to be certain that she's most likely outside the room pacing back and forth nervously," he says with a sigh to his voice. The boy looks like a lovesick puppy. Ugh.

This makes me frown. "Yeah, I'm sure you got that right."

No more said, Ezra, pats me on the back before exiting the room.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

~Sabina~

I pace back and forth nervously right outside the dormitory, hands over my ears to block out the screams of terrible pain. At last, it stops, and Ezra steps out.

"Is it done?" My voice comes out shaky.

He nods. "My arm's all good and new."

I let out the breath that I was holding. "Thank goodness, I couldn't bear to see you like that!"

He smirks. "You're being such a girl by making a big deal."

"I am a girl." I glare.

"Oh believe me Sab, I know." He opens up his arms and smiles, his dimples showing. "Your brother is in need of a hug."

"Ok, girl seeker." I go and embrace him. Boy, did I really miss this guy.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A week and a half later, I find myself in a dimly lit room with the doofus, Shawn.

"Ready to begin today's training?" he gives me a lopsided grin.

Just because I forgave him doesn't mean I like him. It's hard to forget what he did to me. "No," I respond cooly. Or at least I hope it came out cooly.

He chuckles. "Well, it's too late to turn back now."

I glower at him. Why do I have the feeling that this is going to be one looooonnnggg session?

"Hello, Shawn and Sabina, welcome," a female's voice echoes across the small, confined space causing me to look up at the speaker that I just noticed in the corner. "Please be cooperative and put on the black shades provided in the bin before you," she continues in that gentle tone.

"Here." Shawn hands me one of the glasses.

"Thanks," I say, putting them on to see all black. Hold on where did the room just go?

My pulse begins to quicken as the lady announces, "The Intermediate Simulation should take a minute to begin. Good luck."

Oh no, intermediate?! They haven't mentioned that beforehand. I try to remove the glasses, but it's already too late, the mission has begun.

Shawn and I are in an army base dressed in camouflaged gear, holding ak47s. I have to admit this is kind of sick in a cool way, even though my heartbeat is racing madly.

Eliminate the Inhumans, flashes before our eyes in neon green.

"Should we get this over with?" Shawn's deep blue eyes meet mine and I gulp.

As they say, confidence is key. Nodding, I tighten my grip on the gun. This baby is going to remain close to my side throughout this simulation. No matter what.

Shawn is already cautiously making his way across the room. I jog to catch up to him. He comes to an abrupt stop and I crash right into him.

"Wait here. I'm going to scan the area."

My heart is still racing wildly as I nod. He then walks off and I'm alone. Suddenly, I begin to panic. OMG, he left me all alone!

My footsteps reverberate throughout the room as I make my way for the door. Peeking my head out, I search my nearby surroundings, releasing a relieved breath when I find the path clear. I bolt from the room.

"Sabina." I hear Shawn up ahead. "We are surrounded. Run and shoot." Gunshots ring out and I quickly cover my ears as I run.

"Shawn," I cry, fumbling with my gun.

I receive no response. My heart racing once more, I continue to run blindly when suddenly I crash into someone and scream.

"Shh." A hand clamps over my mouth, silencing me. "It's only me."

Shawn. I relax, my heart returning to its regular, steady pace.

Shawn's hand lifts off my mouth as he whispers. "There's three lurking around the corner. I tried to shoot them, but well my aim isn't really the best." Heat rises to his cheeks, making him look like he has a bad sunburn.

I look at him, miffed. "I thought you said we were surrounded?"

"We are," he clarifies and my heart drops right into my stomach. "There's two more outside."

"How great," I mumble. How are we supposed to complete this thing? "Uh, what's the plan?" I ask, one-thousand percent unsure of myself. And us.

He looks at me, his forehead wrinkling as he thinks. "Honestly, I'm not much of a strategizer."

"Seriously. Then why was I partnered with you?"

"I was wondering the same thing," he murmurs, embarrassed. Good, let him be embarrassed. He is an embarrassment after all.

I bite my lip hard, the bitter taste of blood mixing in with my saliva. This simulation is way too realistic and that frightens me.

"Fine, I'll come up with the plan," I tell Shawn, whose tense shoulders sag in relief while I start to think. Beautiful, confident brain of mine, please do your job. Help me strategize. "Got it," I blurt out excitedly after several minutes of thinking.

"What is it?"

I tell him and he smiles. We both seem to be excited about this plan which is crazy since we'll most likely end up dead.

We walk back to back around the corner. I spot them first, or at least two of them.

"Look what we have here," the girl snickers, a long, sharp icicle appearing in her hand.

This simulation keeps on getting more lifelike by the second. And I'm not too fond of that.

She sends the icicle hurling our way and I quickly duck, pulling Shawn down with me. The other Inhuman, a guy, begins to spit fire at us. I can feel the heat as it soars past my face.

"Shoot them," Shawn cries.

"You too!"

I aim for the girl, struggling to keep my hand steady. Sabina, just get on with it already. Inhaling deeply, I pull the trigger, and she cries out in pain as the bullet embeds itself right in her icy heart.

Shawn gapes at me. "That, that was a per..."

"Flip me," I cut him off, spitting out the words quickly.

"What?" He looks puzzled.

"Flip me over your back. Hurry," I explain with urgency.

His arms link with mine and the hallway spins as he tosses me over his back. I land on my feet before the third Inhuman who thought he could sneak up on us. I shoot him, watching with satisfaction as he crumples to the floor like an empty sack of potatoes.

"Watch out!" Shawn yells.

A ball of fire whizzes by singeing the edges of my hair. Pissed, I shoot the fire-spitting Inhuman, happy to see him die.

Your teammate has been killed, flashes before my eyes in big letters. Excuse me, what? I look behind me to see that the ball of fire I nearly was able to dodge hit Shawn right in the face. I watch with dread as his body begins to flicker and then disappear, leaving me on my own.

Now what?

It's up to you to finish the mission, good luck.

Well, there's my answer.

Inhaling, I continue to make my way down the narrow hallway. 'There's two more outside,' keeps on replaying inside of my head.

It's not that difficult to find the door leading out of this place thanks to the bold red letters reading EXIT. Being as cautious as I can, I turn the knob, and push the steel door open, coming face to face with an Inhuman.

Before I get the opportunity to shoot her, she opens her mouth wide, a gush of air blowing me backward. I crash my head hard into the wall, slumping to the floor in a daze. Gingerly, I touch the back of my head to find it damp, and bringing my fingers before my face, I find them red from blood.

This simulation keeps on surprising me with just how realistic it is. But it's all fake, isn't it? My body's really back in that dimly lit room, shackled down to the stark white armchair. This blood can't be real then. At least that's what I think.

I search for my gun, my heart plunging to my stomach when I spot it at the opposite end of the hallway. How am I going to get it?

Looking back at the Inhuman who's marching toward me, I act quickly. Stretching out across the cool stoned floor, my hand reaches out, fingers grasping. Almost there. Finally, the tip of my fingers brush against the cold steel metal.

"Oh no, you don't."

I glance up to see her towering over me. This isn't good. Somehow I manage to grab hold of my gun and rolling onto my back, I shoot up at her.

She opens her mouth and lets out some air, blowing the bullet away. This really isn't good.

"That wasn't very smart of you," she says, stepping down on my hand. I scream as I begin to feel my bones cracking.

It's not real. But the pain. I can feel the pain.

Tears are streaming down my face, my gun hand crushed. The Inhuman's ugly face floats before my blurred eyes, my gun now in her hand.

"Pathetic human," she hisses before pulling the trigger.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Sabina, Sabina, wake up. It's over."

My eyes fly open and land on Shawn, who's looking down at me in concern. "What happened you were screaming?"

I stare back at him and mumble, "I hate simulations."

"I know how you feel," he smiles weakly.

"You have failed the Intermediate Simulation." The robotic female's voice is back. "Shawn please return to your training with Mac. Sabina, remain here."

Shawn's eyes meet mine briefly. "Good job," he says before looking away and leaving the room.

Once he's gone the lady continues, "Congratulations Sabina Katherine Jones, you've done very well for your first simulation that is why you are going to have a second chance to compete it now with a more advanced partner."

The door behind me swings open and I peek over my shoulder to see Ashton enter, not looking that happy to be here either.